www.creativeladiesministry.com

[Oma]

Good Morning

It is actually 3 in the morning and I can't sleep. The Lord has my mind spinning..........Or maybe I have my mind spinning.

Over the past two years I have really been struggling. The Church that I am currently a member of has been in tumoil. A church split, angry and hurt families. It has been WORK to worship.

(Please understand that when I said the following statement there was a lot more said before it AND after it) I once said to my Pastor's wife "I came from a healthy well balanced Church home to be adopted by a devoriced family"

Our wonderful Pastor has been laying out the core principals of our Church.......a road map if you will.

Last week he taught on worship, what it SHOULD be and what is has become.

Additionally I have been reading a GREAT little book called "Parenting in the Pews" (maybe singular)

I am ashamed to admit that I have been one of those people that look at Sunday worship as "Fill me up for another week" Spiritual gas station.

In my last Church home we used to sing a song, it is the title of this post. And in my heart of hearts I am SURE that it was the desire and drive of our elders that worship was to be "all about" God. But I have to admit that I had made it something else.

I challenge you ladies........rethink how you are worshiping.........even.....ARE you woshiping?

I have felt like I am in a spiritual desert for two years.........MY fault, wrong focus

I will leave you with (what I can remember) the words of this song

"I'm coming back to the heart of worship
It's all about you
It's all about you, Lord

I'm sorry for what I have made it................."

just a thought
_________________
ysiHn&l;
Deb

[Prov31wannabe]

Just this morning, someone posted this at another board I visit.
Read on!!

COMING BACK TO THE HEART OF WORSHIP

Date Posted : 1/1/2026
Author : Mike Pilavachi

We were challenged to ask ourselves individually, ‘When I come through the door of the church, what am I bringing as my contribution to the worship?’

With a spanking new building, a congregation wearing combat trousers, a PA system that cost thousands and links with the summer festivals, some might have thought that worship wise, a Church like Soul Survivor Watford had it sussed.

Since it began - meeting in school halls with a PA that packed into the boot of a Cavalier - Soul Survivor Watford has always been given plenty of time over to worshipping through music. Over the years people have poured out their hearts to God through it, and there have been plenty of examples of great things happening as a result. However, in the autumn of ’96 we realised that something was ‘up’ with our worship. At first it was difficult to put our finger on the problem. On the surface everything was just fine; many of the musicians had worked out how to tune their instruments and the sound engineers were getting out of bed on time. Each service contained a block of songs that focused on the cross and gave people the chance to get down to business with God. To make this easier, the music was (nearly) up-to-date, the chairs had disappeared and the lights were low: what better atmosphere for young people to worship God?

Yet, we seemed to have lost the spark. We seemed to be going through the motions but I noticed that although we were singing the songs, our hearts were far from him. Was it Redman’s fault? I listened…he wasn’t singing any more duff notes than usual. Then it clicked; we had become connoisseurs of worship instead of participants of it. In our hearts we were giving the worship marks out of ten: “Not that song again”, “I can’t hear the bass”, “I like the way she sings”…We had made the band the performers of worship and ourselves the audience. We had forgotten that we are ALL the performers of worship and that God is the audience. We had forgotten that sacrifice is central to biblical worship. In the Old Testament, whenever the people of Israel gathered to worship, they sacrificed a lamb or other animal. In 2 Chronicles 7, when King Solomon and the people gathered to dedicate the new temple to the Lord, Solomon sacrificed 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. Now that’s what I call a barbecue! The passage says that the glory of the Lord fell on the people and they prostrated themselves on the pavement and worshipped. In fact the presence of God was so tangible that, for a while, even the priests could not perform their duties.

We don’t need to sacrifice sheep and goats today and certainly no sacrifice on our part can earn God’s forgiveness or our salvation; the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has done that for all time. Yet we ARE called to bring sacrifices in worship. We are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices - this is OUR spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). We are called to offer our sacrifice of praise.

We were challenged to ask ourselves individually, ‘When I come through the door of the church, what am I bringing as my contribution to the worship?’ The truth came to us: worship is not a spectator sport, it is not a product moulded by the taste of the consumers. It is not about what we can get out of it; it is all about God.

We needed to take drastic action. For a while, in order to truly learn this lesson, we banned the band. We sacked Redman!

Then we sat around in circles and said that if no one brought a sacrifice of praise, we would spend the meeting in silence. At the beginning, we virtually did! It was a very painful process. We were learning again not to rely on the music. After a while we began to have some very sweet times of worship. We all began to bring our prayers, our readings, our prophecies, our thanksgiving, our praises and our songs. Someone would start a song a cappella and we would all join in. Then someone else would take it on to another song. The excitement came back. We were not having Church; we were once again meeting with God. With all the comforts stripped away we worshipped from the heart.

When we had learnt our lesson, we brought the band back. It was at this point that Matt began to sing the song he had written out of this experience. I wept as we sang it for the first time. The words expressed exactly what was going on:

When the music fades, All is stripped away, And I simply come. Longing just to bring Something that’s of worth That will bless Your heart.

I’ll bring You more than a song. For a song in itself is not what You have required. You search much deeper within, Through the way things appear; You’re looking into my heart.

I’m coming back to the heart of worship, And it’s all about You, All about You Jesus. I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it. When it’s all about You. All about you Jesus.

King of endless worth No one could express How much You deserve. Though I’m weak and poor All I have is Yours, Every single breath.

Matt Redman © 1997 Kingsway’s Thankyou Music
_________________
Colossians 1:27 ...."Christ in you, the hope of glory."

[Guest]

Oma, thank you so much for opening your heart and sharing that.
I came from a church in the same way. My husband was the pastor there, and it was a sorry state of dead worship to be in. He also tried to lay out the map guidelines, etc. for the way true worship should be...
they were not responsive. A few of the familes were, I should not lump them in one catagory (sorrry).
As a pastors wife I would encourage you to keep your focus on the Lord and support your pastor while he is going through this rough time. I am afraid that what happened in our church was the ones that understood what true worship needed to be left our church and went to churchs that were worshipping in a way that was pleasing to the Lord. We were glad to see that they "found" the truth in worship, but that they left instead of supporting the church there to hopefully "spread" true worship there was hard. It then became a sore spot for me, becuase dealing with all of that, my focus came off the Lord and on to them.
I began hearing MANY sermons about Ichabod..."where is the glory", making me realize I had lost MY heart for worship, just as our church had. (the sad thing is I am afraid there are many churchs in this same way today). I know the song you are referring to, Michael W. Smith I believe sings it. I listened to it often when I realized I needed to get back to the heart of worship, "and it's all about YOU Jesus!"
I began to listen to a song called "Move Me" ( I can't recall right now who sings it) but the words are "Lord move in the way that I've never seen before there's a mountain in the way and a lock on the door, I'm drifting away waves are crashing on the shore so Lord move, or move me" goes on about moving me out of this place of complacency - (and though I know it refers to my state in my heart and mind, HE moved us out of that church!) And praise God, I got a renewed heart of worship - I went back to the Heart of Worship, and it's all about HIM!
It's too easy to drift away, when we get out of the Word, out of focus, etc.
I pray we all stay focused on HIM, that we all remain strong in the SPIRIT, that we cling tightly to our church family, that we communicate daily with HIM in prayer, that we never lose our HEART FOR WORSHIP!

[Oma]

Sorry folks.

I did not get permission from Matt Redman to post the lyrics so I have removed them. (It really just slipped my mind)

If you want to read them you can go to

http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/michael-w-smith-the-heart-of-worship-dkss7dj.html

and see them there.

PS
Proverb31wannabe, that's where I got the idea that Michael Smith had sung them.
_________________
ysiHn&l;
Deb

[Prov31wannabe]

Not Michael Smith...Matt Redman.
_________________
Colossians 1:27 ...."Christ in you, the hope of glory."

[Ann]

When I come through the doors I want to worship like that. How does it happen? How do I forget everything else and just think of Him? You say "focus" alot, how do I do that? How do I not think of the little kid in front of me or the pianist? How do I forget the roast in the oven? And how do you tactfully get people to not clap after someone sings? I sing and I don't want them to clap for me.
This site is wonderful and glad I stumbled on to it.
Ann

[Guest]

I don't know. I just don't know how to answer you. I hope someone does cuz I would like to know how to worship like that.
lan

[BarbaraJean]

Have you ever closed your eyes during a worship service and just listened as the believers sang praises to God? I did this in a recent service as the congregation was singing "I Exalt Thee". There was such beautiful harmony. It was lovely and I thought how beautiful it must have sounded to the One we were worshipping.

Do you know the chorus "I Love You, Lord"? Here are the words:
I love You, Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You,
O my soul, rejoice!
Take joy, my King,
In what You hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear

Think about what "Take joy, my King, in what You hear May it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear" really means. I asked my youth group how they thought our congregation's beautiful singing sounded to God? One perceptive young lady said, "I think that it sounded great to Him but that we would sound great to Him even if we were singing off key."

As you are singing the words of songs we've come to know so well, have you caught yourself thinking about the Sunday School lesson you are about to teach, or about the way somebody snubbed you in the church foyer, or about how the pastor's tie doesn't match his shirt? Guilty as charged! I've often caught myself singing the words while my mind is actually on something else. So, I wonder what the Lord we are worshipping is hearing - the word coming from our lips or the thoughts running through our minds?

St. John 4:24 says "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." Wow! If God is listening to what is in our spirits as well as what is coming out of our mouths can you imagine what He is actually hearing as he listens to us singing in church?

Try closing your eyes and begin thanking Jesus for the awesome sacrifice He made for your salvation. You know that if thoughts are racing through your mind that it is an attempt of the enemy preventing you from entering into true worship. The Bible says to "resist the devil and he will flee from you". When these thoughts come rebuke them in the name of the One who lives inside you - Jesus.

Another thing you can do is "practice" worship at home. I don't mean practice like you practice your lines for a pageant. Go into a room at home and close the door, turn on some soft worship music and just listen to the words and think on the goodness of your savior. Don't use that time to ask Him for anything - just spend it concentrating on how awesome He is.
_________________
God Is Good All The Time. . .
Barb

[amyb]

Someone mentioned the song "Move Me"-It's really called "Lord Move, or Move Me" I just love that song-even just the title. Our church had an old fashioned tent revival a couple months ago, that song was sort of our theme song-
Getting back to the subject of worship-you know people have so many excuses about not wanting to go to church or not getting anything out of it, but like you guys have said-It has to start with ME. No one else can work up your focus on God-yeah-maybe your emotions, but a true focus has to start with each of us as individuals.
_________________
In His grip and grace.

[Allena]

Hi Oma and everyone else. I just want to thank you for sharing your feelings on this important matter. Reading all the posts has been a blessing and an encouragement to me. Our church too has lost its heart for worship - or maybe never found it?! The dryness and hardness we experience saddens me so much. Sometimes my flesh really wants my hubby and I to move somewhere else where the people desire to worship the Lord, and know how to do so! However, the Lord has not given us permission to leave where we are, and so we stay and endeavour to try to bring about a change in understanding and attitude. In such a cold atmosphere it is difficult to stay focussed, but I can second Barbara Jean's advice regarding private worship at home. That private "training" really does help. ("I love you Lord" is one of my favourites). Knowing that there are others out there who are in a similar position also helps, and hearing the wonderful testimonies is a great encouragement to persevere. Thanks folks.
Blessings.[/b]
_________________
Allena
Proverbs 3:5-6
http://www.crilly40.freeserve.co.uk

[Oma]

Good to hear from you Allena! I was wondering how you had been. I will be praying for you and your congregation (may I have the name again?) And ask that you pray for mine as well, Bastrop Bible Church. Not so much for worship (that's really just me I think) but for healing and growth as God has planned. Thank you
_________________
ysiHn&l;
Deb

[cieluch]

Ann,

I struggle with lots of questions like yours. The basic, fundamental elements of putting God's word into practice. How do you focus on worship when life does not stop when you walk into church? One verse I lean on when I can't focus or my thoughts are not pure is the verse that states we are to take all thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Sorry I can't find the chapter and verse (I know it is in the new testament). What this verse says to me is that we are to retrain the way we think. When I catch myself drifting in thought, I say a verse to myself, realign my attention, pray, etc. We have to continually be aware that our thoughts can be changed and rearranged. God tells us that we have the power to see everything through the light of Jesus. Even our time in church when we come together for corporate worship and life does not stop.

Hope this helps!

Heather

[BarbaraJean]

cieluch,
That is such a powerful scripture and great advice!!
_________________
God Is Good All The Time. . .
Barb